Reply to Insecure Homeschool Grad

The social insecurity of a homeschool graduate is the topic of an article in the September 12, 2009 issue of World Magazine: http://www.worldmag.com/articles/15814 It prompted these thoughts.

I question if homeschooling is really the cause of Alisa Harris's insecurity. After all, "becoming comfortable in (one's) own skin" is not exclusively a struggle of homeschoolers, though theirs is the advantage of gaining some maturity before wading into it.

Harris's reason given for wishing to homeschool her own children is to spare them being hurt, or robbed, or demeaned, a rather negative way to approach the question, I think. Perhaps she is too close to notice the forest for the trees?

The benefits of homeschooling are often not easily quantified and may be missed in a profit and loss analysis. That Harris has the confidence to write candidly about her insecurities in a national magazine may actually be a testimony for her education.

It's hard to believe that being educated in one's home would prevent someone from knowing about Michael Jackson or some other element of pop culture. How many homes do not have a radio or TV in them? Internet access, a library card, or a daily newspaper ought to be sufficient to keep a willing learner abreast of current cultural trends.

Does homeschooling get an even hand in these debates? When a classroom child cops a 'tude, we shrug and say, "Well, kids are like that," but when a homeschooled child hits a social glitch, we say, "Well, he was homeschooled, you know." Would that instead, we said of the young person who resents authority, "Well, his education was farmed out to an institution, you know," and of the one awkward around the opposite gender, "Well, kids are like that."